USCIS Relocates Certain Offices Impacted by Hurricane Katrina
Posted Sep 16, 2005
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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the USCIS New Orleans District Office has temporarily relocated to an USCIS sub-office location in Memphis, Tennessee. The Jackson, Mississippi and Fort Smith, Arkansas sub-office locations are also open, but all files from the New Orleans office are being sent to Memphis.
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Fortunately, all of the files at the New Orleans office were unharmed by the hurricane. No person's file, therefore, should have been lost due to Katrina. The New Orleans USCIS District Office cannot reopen for the foreseeable future due to the extensive damage incurred in the city. Naturalization ceremonies in the New Orleans area have been cancelled until further notice, but will be rescheduled. District office interviews will also be rescheduled.
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Of course, those who have relocated will need to provide updated address information. This obviously is going to be a significant problem, since so many are in temporary accommodations. The only practical solution we at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy can suggest, if one does not have the address of a friend or a reliable care-of address, is to set up a Post Office box, either through the U.S. Postal Service or one of the private companies offering the service. This way, there is a single, stable location for mail delivery. There are fees charged for the rental of these boxes.
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The USCIS is considering options to permit the parole of certain foreign skilled workers, such as recovery specialists, construction employees, and electricians, into the U.S. and granting temporary work authorization to help with the recovery and restoration efforts. We will continue to monitor this situation and other immigration matters affected by Hurricane Katrina for the benefit of our MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers.
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At this difficult time, patience must prevail. It may take additional time to hear about cases that were filed in the New Orleans office. It is fortunate, however, that the files there were not lost in the storm or its aftermath. We applaud the USCIS for moving cases filed at New Orleans USCIS District Office promptly to another office so that they can be handled efficiently and in due course.